Friends: Mother Gave Baby To Kidnap Suspects

COBB COUNTY, Ga.,None — Friends of a midwife accused of kidnapping a woman and her newborn are coming to her defense. They called the situation a misunderstanding.

Holly Parker-Heard, 27, and her baby girl were reported missing after she gave birth at a motel in Austell on Saturday. According to an arrest warrant, the mother had complications during labor, and she did not receive hospital care.

Man Accused Of Kidnapping Newborn In Court

Police charged her midwife, 39-year-old Rebecca McLarty, with kidnapping and cruelty to children. Her boyfriend, 42-year-old Scott McDaniel, was later arrested after Channel 2's Ross Cavitt spotted him during an interview near the couple's home.

Police said they found the missing mother at the couple's Mableton home Sunday evening. They said her baby was with McLarty at a home in Carrollton. Next door, McLarty's friend, Sheila Ashley, said her friend is no kidnapper.

"All I know is that four months ago, she told me she was going to adopt a baby," Ashley told Cavitt. "She was trying to help a girl that was on drugs real bad. She's always been a good girl, always."

Another friend told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri a similar story Tuesday.

"All this is a misunderstanding, and she didn't kidnap that baby," Patricia Davis told Napier Viteri.

She said the couple didn't take Parker-Heard to the hospital because she begged them not to because of her drug use. Davis said Parker-Heard is a drug addict and a prostitute who was leaving her child in better care.

"They was going to take the child and raise it as their own until the mother either wanted her back or wanted them to keep her," Davis said.

McLarty and McDaniel were being held at the Cobb County Jail.

WSBTV